Kolkata: The construction of India’s first underwater tunnel in Kolkata under the Hooghly river for establishing metro connectivity between Howrah and Kolkata is underway and will be made fully functional by 2023.
Speaking on the facilities and safety measures being provided in the project, Mithun Ghosh, the Site Supervisor while speaking to media said that there will be walkways in the tunnels for evacuation of passengers in case of emergency
“Important Passage work has also been done keeping in mind that if a technical problem arises inside the water tunnel area, passengers can be taken out through the special passage,” said Mithun Ghosh.
He further said that almost 80 per cent of the work of the East-west Howrah Metro station is completed and expected that the full-fledged service may start from 2023.
“The station is being built under the Hooghly river at a depth of 33 meters. 80 per cent of work has been completed while 20 per cent is yet to be finished. It will start functioning by 2023,” said Ghosh.
It is worth mentioning that the East-West corridor of the Kolkata Metro is 15 Km-long and spans from Salt Lake Stadium to Howrah. This metro line between Salt Lake Sector-5 to Salt Lake Stadium has Karunamayi, Central Park, City Center and Bengal Chemical metro stations.
For the first time in India, a transport tunnel is being built inside the river.
